Diario de inasiebert

Observation from September 28th, 2017

On this day, we wanted to explore alpine meadows. The weather was perfect: low hanging clouds over the Columbia River and bright blue sky at higher elevations made for great impressions while we were driving the Meadows in the Sky Parkway.

Very excited, we started on our hike. Only to come directly to a sign that said “Grizzly Bear in area” and warned about going further. I had read “Bear Attacks” by Stephen Herrero – no way we were taking the planned hike.

Luckily, there was a shuttle bus taking visitors to the summit. So we could get at least a small impression of the area. I asked the ranger driving the shuttle bus about the bird life at the summit. She told me that a Northern Hawk Owl could often be seen near the historic firetower. I couldn’t imagine getting that lucky.

We walked up to the firetower and enjoyed the breathtaking views of the valley of the Columbia and the surrounding mountain ranges. Looking around, I saw a bird high up in some dead trees. I took pictures, but we were too far away to identify it. We went closer – and started to realize that we were observing our first owl! The Hawk Owl the ranger had told me about, at that! It was sitting there in the bright sunshine, characteristically turning its head. After some time, it changed trees, but still stayed close enough for us to watch. It didn’t seem to mind the 20 to 30 people who were walking and talking on the pathways circling the trees where it sat.

We were all excited about this observation, but at first, no one else even saw the owl. Only after some time, some people got curious about what we were looking at – the colours of the plumage and the trees were so alike, the owl was hard to see. We pointed it out, and someone asked if it was a “baby owl”. They didn’t stay on for long, but we continued watching with binoculars and my camera. This owl was too beautiful to pass by!